February 12, 2025 • 29 mins
Daniel Vasquez was a Top 10 co-angler in Bassmaster. After the program was shuttered, he decided to move to Alabama for his career in professional fishing.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You guys have been listening to Lines and Times for
a while. I appreciate everybody who's clicked subscribe. I'm really
excited about this because my buddy Daniel Vasquez is going
to be joining me on Lines and Times. We're looking
forward to this venture. It's going to be really good.
Daniel's backstory we're going to learn a little bit about
that today. But he decided to leave West Palm Beach,
(00:21):
Florida fishing Lake o Kochobe whenever he wanted to broaden
his horizons and try to make it as a professional
bass fisherman. Last year he ran as the bass master
on the co Angler side, finished with top tens.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Pretty incredible, yeahs.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
So it's actually a pretty crazy story.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
So, like you said, last year, I fished bass master
and finished luckily in the top ten for the co Anglers.
And I told myself going into last year that if
I had made the top ten as co Anglers, then
I try to make a decision to you know, pursue
professional fishing.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
But I never thought it would take me to Alabama.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
So we were here in Alabama for the Logan Martin
event and it was a stellar event for me, but
my wife and I just fell in love with the
area and we're like, you know what, this is where
we have to be. And so after I finished last year,
we started the house hunt and we found a home
packed up all our stuff.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I sold my business and here we are in Alabama.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
That has kicked off your pursuit of becoming a professional
tournament angler. Yes, a lot of people have brought up
professional tournament anglers. Can you explain to me what you
think is a professional tournament angler?
Speaker 4 (01:34):
So a professional tournament angler, in my opinion, can be
a co angler or professional angler who represents the sport
of bass fishing the right way.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I'm in a professional.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
Manner who does tournaments, you know, tries to maintain sponsorships
and you know, tries to branch out and teach more
people about the sport of bass fishing. In my opinion,
it's not just based off the guy in the front
of the boat.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Anybody can be a professional fisherman.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Obviously, you know, you need to have a little bit
of notoriety and have some tournament skills behind you to
be able to, you know, push that envelope.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
I've been watching you since you moved to Alabama and
we fished together, and you know, we do some tournaments
together and things like that. I don't really know much
about your background, so take me through it. When you're
a kid, where were you born, where were you raised?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
What got you into fishing?
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Yeah, so I was born in Los Angeles. My mom
and dad separated when I was just a young kid,
so I went from Los Angeles to New Hampshire a
lot when I was a young kid.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
And because your dad stayed in LA Yeah, that's exactly right. Hampshire.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah, so you were you were having to see your
mom jumping on a plane. Did you have to ride
on the plane by yourself?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
So my sister and I would go for a while,
but then once I was eighteen, I was making the
trip by myself. After I was eighteen, you know, custody
stops and all that when you're a young kid.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Well, you were going to college then days, right.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
So but it was really cool because I could be
in New Hampshire fishing over there, and then during the
summers I'd go to California and hang out with my
dad and fish all those lakes over there.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
So it was just awesome.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
How different was the fishing in New Hampshire compared to
night in LA. And then how different is the fishing
in New Hampshire, California, Florida and Alabama.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Everything is night and day. Everything is night and day.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
So not only just a species of bass that you're targeting,
but the size, especially the size.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
When you go to California.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
It's really crazy how when you go into certain places
up there, it's super finesse fishing, like six pound tests,
eight pound test line, and then you can go to
the delta and you're flipping, you know, sixty five pound
test braid. So the fisheries in California line up really
really well for people that you know, end up moving
to Florida or something like that. But the California fisheries
(03:48):
are very hard. All those West coast fisheries are difficult
to fish. And I'm really surprised actually that it's like that.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Skeeet Reese was a California guy, right, Yes, yeah, was
Aaron Martin's a California guy.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
You move to Alabama.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Yeah, So it's actually this is a crazy story.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
So the first basque club I ever entered was in
Castay at California, and I think I was maybe fourteen
years old, and Aaron Martin's was from Castay at California
when he was coming out with the Roboworms and all that,
and he spoke at our bass club and I'll never
forget it.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
That was the first time. I think.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
I think this is before he was even on the
Elite series or anything. He was just a regular regular guy.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
When you're living in California as a kid, were you
involved in fishing then or were your hobbies completely different.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
I've been involved in fishing since I was eight years old.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
So how'd you get on the water for the first time.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
The first time was with my stepfather.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
He took us bluegill fishing, and I just I remember
watching him catch bluegill after bluegun. I was like, I
want to do that really, Yeah, it was so crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
So most of the time of bluegill fishing, like you're
casting a rod maybe three feet Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
No, he was throwing this little spinner. I remember vividly.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
We were on we were in this orange canoe and
he stowing this little tiny like in spin, like this
little inline spinner. Yeah, and just wearing the blue gill
like every cast And I remember seeing them under the
boat and being like I'm gonna go out tomorrow and
do this by myself. So he let me go out
the next day canoe fishing all by myself, and so
he used.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
To do it. Do you actually got Youah, actually gotten.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
A canoe and paddled out at like eight or nine
years old, Jacky or whatever. Yeah, so that's where it
all started.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
So you wore out the blue gill and then you
came back and you were immediately like, hey, I want
to start targeting bass or was it just as you
got older you started to get a little more impacted
by wanting to catch bigger fish have a better fight.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
So naturally, you know, us fisherman, you know, they say
the bluegills where we start, and then you know, circumstantially
you end up hooking a bass. You know, while you're
doing that, you're targeting fishing. You know, because I was
just a little kid, I was grabbing lures whatever I
thought would work and throw them, and you know, I
just circumstantially caught a bass one day. And when that happened,
I was like, oh my god, I gotta do this again.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
People don't but people don't realize it because you caught
a bass on super ultra light gear, and you know,
the gear at the time probably wasn't the greatest thing ever,
right Shakespeare. Yeah, the two piecee completely crossed. But you
catch this bass on probably six pound test at the max,
(06:24):
and you watched this thing take off, but you want
to land it. How long do you think it took
you to land that fish?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Man, dude, it's so hard to remember the memory that hard.
But it probably only a couple of seconds. Oh really,
it probably wasn't even a big one. You know, I
think it was a small mouth because we were staying
on Long Pond in Maine when I think I remember
I really started catching my first couple of bass.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
So you don't know this about me, but as a kid,
I didn't do any fishing, and I grew up on
a phenomenal large mouth bass fishery.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
It's called Smith Mountain Lake.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
It's in the southwestern corner of Virginia and MLF is
going there this year for heavy hitters. And you know
when they do that event, that's big fish, like that's
all they care about. They have really done such a
good job maintaining that fishery and get it going for
a long time. When I was a kid. It was
really well known for stripers, and I wanted to fish,
(07:23):
but I didn't know anybody that knew how.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
We had this little tackle shop.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
And this memory came up when you were talking about
going out and buying tackle, because I remember this and
I still have these things in my boat.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
I went and.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Bought a storm Wigglewart crank bait, and I remember going
into the store. I had like five dollars from allowance,
and I looked at the guy and I said, what
are they biting? And he pulls out this fire tiger
painted storm wiggle Wart and he goes, they are lighting
this thing up, and he handed it to me, and
I was like, I'll buy it. So I gave him
(07:56):
my five bucks and I went out. I didn't even
know how to tie a proper not nothing. I didn't
catch a fish all day, and I was sitting there
trying to work this thing back on, like one of
those crappy Shakespeare rods and all that kind of stuff.
And eventually I gave it up. I literally took that rod.
I never even cut the bait off of it. I
just put in the corner of our basement because I
(08:18):
got frustrated.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Didn't know how to.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Fish, didn't know anybody knew, and I was tired of it.
I went back to my house five years ago after
fishing for the very first time with friends of mine
who actually showed me how to fish, and I caught
an amazing striper. I was like, dude, this thing is huge.
But I went down into my basement and I saw
that rod and I saw that crank bait, and I
was like, you know, I'm cutting that thing off because
(08:42):
that was the first thing that linked me to it.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I have it in my boat. I'll never throw it nice.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
That's cool. That's a good memory.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Those like those things with fishing.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
When you bring those memories up from being a kid,
they impact you so much.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
They really do. They really do.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
It's actually kind of entertaining how you don't remember certain things,
but when it comes to the things that you really love,
you just remember everything.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
You remember the fine details.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
If you asked me when I was sixteen years old,
like do you remember the fishing memory and all that kind,
I couldn't tell you, Like I wouldn't have brought that up.
It took somebody bringing me out who knew what they
were doing, to show me the ropes let me land
a fish. And then all of a sudden, I was like,
you know what, I remember when I was a kid.
I remember going to that tackle shop. I remember when
(09:27):
they had cash on delivery, so you would watch something
on TV and infomercial and then you could call and
they would send you the product and then you'd have
to pay at the post office or order to get it.
I got these things called flying lures. I never you're sweet, dude,
but if you think about it now, like Berkeley came
out with what the kreje. Yeah, so it's a jerk
(09:50):
bait that goes backwards, it falls back to the fish.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
That's basically the flying little it is.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
It's it's essentially the same thing.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
So I got these things and same exact thing. Dude,
you've seen the tackle shop in my garage. Those things
are in my work bench, pristine, never been touched, never been.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Probably worth a ton of money.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Probably not.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
There's probably one guy that's.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Like, I need my flag lures.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
I feel like everything we got told as kids isn't
even remotely true. Like they were like, hey, collect all
those action figures, leave them in the box because they're
going to pay for Carla.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I've gone to eBay.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
I didn't even get to play with this when I
was a kid, and now I haven't.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
All right, So take me through New Hampshire.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
So your stepfather is the one that really got you
into fishing, and you would obviously go stay with your
stepdad and your mom in New Hampshire. Now you're fishing
for small mouth. You're targeting cold water species. How different
is that because we don't get to see a lot
of that in Alabama.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
There are some on the Tennessee River.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Uh So the thing that a lot of people don't
realize is those fisheries up there are world class. Not
just talking about Yeah, that's exactly right. So and I'm
not just talking about Lake Champlain and Lake Winnipesake, the
big lakes up there. I'm talking about, like you know,
the small little private lakes, the smaller little impoundments. Those
lakes are absolutely chalk full of three to five pound fish.
(11:16):
And you know, being able to go up there and
just set the hook on multiple fish and learn where
fish should be, and learn how to get them out
of cover, and learn how to fish different lures.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
In that cover. That was essential.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
So New Hampshire actually was a huge integral part in
me learning just how to catch bass, just like trash.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Fishing, you know.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
Uh so that was a lot of fun because you could,
you could do everything, and a lot of people, in
my opinion, should actually, you know, make a trip to
Maine once in a while, or make a trip to
New Hampshire or New York. The problem with that is
the I don't think the venues are big enough. Got it,
So the lakes aren't big enough. But if the lakes
(11:58):
were big enough, I believe you they used to have
big Federation tournaments on Lake Winnipesake. If if I'm I mean,
I think I'm right.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
You Thinklly won one time?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (12:08):
I think Ikenelly actually had done well on the Federation
and qualified for the Classic through Winnipesaka.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
I'm gonna blow your mind.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Lake Winnipesake is in a movie called What About Bob
with Bill Murray and Richard Dry.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
You never seen ever seen it?
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Okay, anybody listening that has probably seen it, will reach
out to us on social mister Spencer Graves because I
know they've seen him.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
But I'm gonna give you a little trivia.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Bill Murray obviously hilarious, right he Skitzo and Richard Dreyfus
is his therapist. Richard Dreyfus says, Hey, I'm going on
a family vacation. I won't be around if you need me,
but read my book Baby Steps, and that should help
you through well. Bill Murray tries to track him down
on vacation. He finds out that he's vacationing on Lake
(12:51):
Winnipesake in New Hampshire. The funny part of that movie
is Lake Winnipesake is actually Smith Mountain, Lake, Virginia, because
the foliage change by the time they wanted to shoot
the film and they wanted summer, but it already had
the auburn leaves because it was turning into fall, so
they had to move locations. So I grew up on
Smith Mount Lake. But it's most well known when you
(13:14):
see the clips of the movie for Lake Winnipeseacicah, that's
funny wild. So Lake Winnipsaki would say is probably the
biggest one.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Wouldn't it be cool? Though?
Speaker 1 (13:22):
If you had bass Master where they said, hey, our
last tournament of the year, it's going to be a
secret lake. Nobody knows anything about it. Here's going to
be the time when.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
We go let's say late August they.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Make the announce that it's Lake Winnipesake in New Hampshire
and everybody has to be there in three weeks to
fish the tournament.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Do you think they could do that? I think that'd
be interesting for fishing.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
It'd be interesting. I don't ever see.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Maybe take maybe take the top fifty and make it
something a little different.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
That would be really cool. I just I would never
foresee bass Master doing that. Maybe a different organization.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
In PFL maybe, yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Maybe somewhere.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
I mean, you know, numbers are everything, right, So in
New Hampshire, I just don't foresee the numbers for a
bigger organization. Why just because the amount of interest in
bass fishing. You know, those lakes up there, like you
said earlierre coldwater lakes, you know, and even though there
are large mouth and smallmouth there, they're still considered trash
fish in New Hampshire and Maine, you know, that's still
(14:24):
a trout fishery for the most part in those places.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
That's what those states are.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Man, it's really just because of the species, that's all that.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
That's exactly right. That's exactly right. So and that's another
thing that everybody needs to realize is that. You know,
in California they stock rainbow trout and all these big
bass lakes, and the bass just sit there and Gorgeum.
They do the same exact thing in New Hampshire and Maine.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Maybe maybe I don't understand this bass being the fish
that it is.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Largemouth is the number one targeted freshwater species in the country,
correct it really? I mean technically the world. Just because
there's so many that are trying to get up, it
provides them most amount of money in the fishing industry.
Why wouldn't more places like these cold water reservoirs want
to do that?
Speaker 4 (15:06):
Over trout, it comes to do with native fisheries. So
all native fisheries should be protected. If there's a trout
fishery that's been predominantly trout fisheries since the history of
the lake, it needs to be managed that way. And
you know that's my fishery background coming out.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Oh yes, tell me about your fishery background.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
So I went to Unity College, graduated there, have been
working in fisheries my entire life. So I understand the
importance of having native fisheries. And a lot of these
places believe it or not, even though you may believe,
and some numbers may show that bass fishing does contribute
a large amount to the revenue and the economy in
some of these states, and some of the states like
(15:45):
Maine and you know, New Hampshire and you know some
of these you know Midwestern states like Utah. You know,
trout fishing is still a very big thing, and those
fisheries are managed one hundred percent for that, and uh
not everything is about bass fishing when it comes to fisheries.
Having a healthy fishery is the ultimate goal.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
The money side. Take that out right.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
If we're talking about recreation, it's cheaper for people to.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Get into bass fishing than it is.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Fishing, absolutely, and that is the main deal is because
you can't you know, if you're from Alabama, you can't
find even a troutthole. Really, if you do, maybe it's
going to be stocked. You know, maybe if you get there,
there's going to be a whole bunch of other people there.
But you have to buy specialty stuff, you know, just
like bass fishing. But the chances are you're going to
(16:34):
have to travel to go catch that fish.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Once you started fishing as a kid.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Because I want to get back to your journey in fishing,
and we'll obviously talk more as the podcast goes on,
and you're being a part of it, of your fishery background,
because it is it's so vital. You and I were
hanging out, and I remember you were telling me about
an upcoming tournament that you were going to, and I
think you were talking to yourself, but I know that
I was around, So it was really interesting to see
(16:59):
how you process. But you were like, yeah, it's a
highland reservoir, so I no, I'm gonna have to do this.
The fisher primarily going to be here and I'm just
taking all this in. And I remember I said to
you at one point, like, how do you know that?
How do you break down a highland reservoir? How do
you break down I don't even know. The other types
of reservoirs.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
Are experience, just being on the water. That's nothing equates
to more success as a fisherman than just being on
the water. So when you wishing as many.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Places, when you were doing these bass club tournaments in
Californian and Castaic and all that kind of stuff, you
were a teenager.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
Yeah, I wasn't even a teenager, not even a teenager.
I think I maybe was twelve when I first started my.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
First You start fishing these tournaments, you're fishing with like
your just local dad or just guys there.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Yeah, just local guys.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
I uh.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
You know, obviously my dad would go to the meetings
with me because I was just a little kid.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
Sure probably yeah, you know, they're you know, having a
fun time at their bass club meetings. You know, it
was their freaking nineties.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Exactly, So, uh, kid, do you want to beer or what?
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Yeah, so that I.
Speaker 4 (18:03):
Would just get paired with a random guy, you know,
just the same exact deal as it always is.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
How important was that in the development of you as
a fisherman.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
It's to anybody that can do it. Being a co
angler is the most important thing. Fishing with as many
people on as many lakes as you can. That's if
you can do that, just and just you know, outreach
to people, you know, social network to people, and that
will make you a better fisherman tenfold.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Does that come into your mind when you're doing these tournaments,
Because I've watched you on bodies of water. You're a
hell of a fisherman. You can be in the front
of the boat any day of the week and you'll
catch fish. But I wonder if the mentality that you
have as a co angler is vastly different than being
at the front of the boat.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Yes, so when I'm a I hate to say it,
be a co angler. It's not as stressful as being
a boater. You know, obviously we all know that the
boaters are taking to your spots and all you got
to do is fish. You know, there's so much that
goes through a boater's mind. You know, am I supposed
to be here at this time? Am I supposed to
be there at that time? The co anger just gets
to reap those benefits or not. And I have luckily
(19:05):
been paired with a bunch of really good fishermen that
have not only taught me a lot, but have done
well in the standings and their careers as well.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
So what would you say is the etiquette of being
a co because I would consider you at this stage
in your career, I would consider you as a professional
co angler.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Uh, yeah, I could say that.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
But there's like a difference, right, Like you see this,
you know the guys that are on the back of
the boat, and you're like, they might catch three fish,
but it's going to be for three pounds, four pounds,
whatever you target, and you do things differently on the
back of the boat. And I think there's really in
most major tournaments, say a two hundred boat field, I
feel like there's only about ten or twelve of those guys.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
So it's about keeping an open mind.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
And you still, even though you're not the boater, you
have to still try to understand what the fish are doing.
Just because you're with your voter who's putting you on fish,
you still it's essential that you understand what the fish
are still doing seasonally, weather wise, bait, why lower wise,
line wise, everything. You really have to pay attention to
(20:05):
the little intricacies even more than the boater does to
be a successful colling.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Do you think that's because you're trying to you're not
fishing against the boater.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
No, we're fishing completely two different tournaments.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
But you're also looking at it as I know there's
another line in the water and they might be targeting something.
But if they don't hit this one thing that I
think they're at, I'm gonna take an opportunity and pick
that off.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
And those those opportunities you get as a co angler
are very limited. So I've learned that you have to
take advantage of every opportunity that's given in front of you,
because you may only get as a co angler ten
opportunities in a day to throw to a good piece
of cover that you can actually have a chance at
catching a fish, or just not even cover, just somewhere
(20:50):
where there may be fish. You may only have that
many opportunities, maybe not even that man.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Plus you might get one of those boaters that does
try to back boat you.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
You know, everything out in front.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Of you, and that happens.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
But at the same time, that can only happen so
much during the day, so you will always have your opportunities.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
And that's why it's.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
Really disappointing to me to see the advent of Coengler's
just giving up, because no matter what, at the end
of the day, there you're gonna have your opportunities. It's
just how you utilize your opportunity.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
And there's been so many people that have talked about like, oh,
I don't want to be stuck behind a scoper and
all that kind of stuff. I'm telling you, there are chances,
especially on a cloudy day, if you're sitting behind them.
Always scope buddy, you got a spot where you can throw.
If they're targeting that brush pile on a sunny day,
you know, those fish are going to sink into whatever
available cover that they have. But in my experience, where
(21:43):
there's a brush pile, there's a rock pile, or there's
a hard bottom, and you might be able to pick
off one or two that are just kind of straining
out to look for a little bait that's exactly.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Right, spencer, Yeah and so.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
But a lot of guys they get it in their
head and they just instantly spin out. You know, if
they get behind some.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Doesn't that speak to the caliber of the type of
fish that's right?
Speaker 4 (22:01):
And those are the guys, you know, those are the
guys that struggle on hard days. Not every day is
going to be the best fishing day of your life, right,
The best fishing days of your life are when you
win a tournament. Believe it or not, you have to
have fish the best three days of your life.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
And that is what I try to do every single
time I go. I try to keep a level.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Heady, stay positive, just keep casting and never let any little,
any little negative emotion ever try to take over my head.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
And if it does.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
It's usually towards the end of the day, you know,
when I'm pretty much on my last cast and I'm
trying to figure out whether or not I'm even.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
About the fact too that, like you know, an angler
or pro, a guy who's at the front of the
boat in a three day tournament, he's got his spots.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
You know, you assume that.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
He's gone out in practice, he's found fish, he's dialed
it in, he's cut his rods from twenty on the
deck down to four on the deck. He knows what
he wants to do. All he has to do is
go out to the spots and catch him. As a
co angler, you get paired with that guy, you catch
your fish, you're in the lead, you're in the top ten.
The next day you get paired with somebody else they
might not be doing nearly as well.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
It's a crapshoot.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
That's why I think it's hard for a co angler,
But it's so rewarding when you have a good tournament
because you've had to battle and get through all these
obstacles that the pro doesn't have.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Yes, So I don't know if most of you guys
remember this, but versatility is key and versatility has created
some of the best co anglers that turned out to
be professional fishermen. So backy, yeah, back in the day,
all these guys, every elite that you saw, they were
co anglers and they'd be on the back I mean
they they most of them have relationships because of that.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
It wasn't as split up where it was like half
of the day the other half you took.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
The boat exactly.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
So it's just the advent of things just changing in
the industry have made it a little bit more volatile
in the co angler world for.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Them to even want to compete.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Yeah, and you know, I hate to see it because
I want to be able to continue fishing as a
co angler.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
But eventually I will be making the.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Move to where do you feel like you are now?
Speaker 4 (24:00):
I'm about a year away. I don't I know, I
could probably do it right now. It's more based on
being realistic. I know right now with my move to Alabama,
my new transition into moving into the state, the most
realistic thing for me is to do is still to
fish as a coinler and just try to learn these lakes.
Why though, because I've for the most part, I have
(24:22):
not fish for spotted bass. As much as I fish
for smallmouth and largemouth bass, I'm still trying to learn livescope.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
I'm still trying to learn.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
Southern fishing beyond Florida, because Florida is not Southern fishing.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
It's it's completely Flaish, It's Florida fishing. And that's what
I need to do.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
If you see some of the best fishermen in the
world there from Alabama, and I knew that, and that's
where I moved here.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
But I can't.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
It would be naive of me to think that I
could just immediately jump into a bfl and even cash
as a boater.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Yeah, if I could.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
Fish every day, go out and do my homework, you
know what I mean. But at the same time, I'm
not going to be stepping on people's toes. It all
comes down to boat numbers, all that stuff. So I
need to learn the lakes. Once I'm able to generate
that under my belt for the next year, you know,
relaxing my new home with my wife, sure, then I'll
be looking in the next year going full boar.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
People don't know this about Alabama that aren't here. Some
do in like the neighboring states, Florida, Georgia places like that,
but they have an incredible I think it's as professional
as it gets without it being Bass Master or MLF.
And that's the Alabama bas trop Absolutely. I called Kay
Donaldson the other day because I started fishing the Northern Division,
(25:38):
and I called her the other day because our first
tournament was on Smith Lake, which is a huge spoted
bass deep water reservoir, clear as clear gets, and I
just called her to just say, hey, I don't know
if anybody's told you this, but you have by far
executed and run the best local tournament trail that feels professional.
(26:01):
I mean, dude, you pull up to the ramp, you
know your boat number. They had a police officer who
asked what your number was. He radios it to the
person who's at the slips and they tell you what
ramp you're going to go on.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
You're going to go on number two.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
It's awesome.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
They got people backing you down. Then when you get
the boat in the water, you drive the truck and
they show you where to park. And then when you park,
if it's far away, they have a golf car pick
you up and bring you back. They've got guys that
are making barbecue and they're giving it out for free.
They're asking for donations phenomenal food.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Then you go to.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Way In and everything feels like a bass Master event.
You just don't have all the cameras, you don't have
all the glitz and all the glamor of being an elite,
but you can win fifteen grand. So I just wanted
to share with her that I think that it is
after fishing it for the first time. It's a tournament
trail I don't think I want to get out of.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
And they have live. Yes, it's live, which is huge.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
They're really doing a better job with the live side
because they're utilizing social media as they can because they
want to get more eyes on it. But the whole thing,
top to bottom, it just it runs perfectly. If you
were ever thinking about trying to get into the professional
ranks of fishing, going through the Alabama Bass Trail kind
(27:16):
of feels like the minor leagues to get there.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
They're all stuts. Everybody that's in that is an Alabama hammer.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
We were going over weights and everybody was like, man,
I think it's going to take about fifteen pounds to win.
I said, I bet it's gonna take close to twenty
or twenty one, and it was nineteen some and it's
just because of the caliber how good these guys are,
and the winning team I think they had four largemouth
in one giant spot, so they weren't even going for
the prime fish that everybody likes to target on that lake.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
They were like, put.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Me in the backwaters, get me in three foot of water,
make it dirty, and that's what I'm gonna try to catch.
That's awesome, it was incredible. All Right, we're gonna get
to learn Daniel little more. He's gonna be on the podcast.
We're also going to bring some of our friends from
the professional ranks. You know, Daniel spent a year doing
the co Angler sign with bass Master, fishing the top
ten fish with some really good dudes. These are guys
(28:06):
that are trying to go through the opens to get
the invitation to make it to the elites, and then
that's where the fun really begins. You know, I'm fortunate
where in Alabama, and now you'll know this too, ninety
percent of professional fishermen live within two hours of Birmingham,
so you're surrounded by a lot of good fishermen. We
were just talking about a guy the other day who
told you about a bait, and he's like, most guys
(28:27):
are scared to throw it, but that's a good one.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
You google his name, and all of a sudden you
find out like, damn, dude, this guy is somebody.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
He's a stud. Like, yeah, he's a study.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Not everybody knows his name, but in the fishing world
you mentioned, all of a sudden people are like, yeah,
we know who that guy is.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
I try to tell us. A couple of my friends
that are like, dude, why would you move Why would
you take all your life from self floor and then
just move to Alabama. I was like, because it's the
same thing as if you're an actor and you want
to become actor, you move to Hollywood. If you want
to be a professional bass fisherman, you moved to Alabama.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Is this a passion project for you?
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Passion project? One hundred percent?
Speaker 1 (29:00):
That baby sold your company, took your money, said to
your beautiful wife, We're gonna go to Alabama. She saw
a couple of the mountains here and she.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Was like, I'm in love, dude. Amazing.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Daniel Vasquez, He's gonna be onlines and times going forward,
which is gonna be awesome. And we'll give you guys
as much about not only fishing, we'll talk about hunting too,
because the hunting season is right around the corner. We
got birds that we got to chase, those thunder chickens
as we like to call them, the turkeys,
You guys have been listening to Lines and Times for
a while. I appreciate everybody who's clicked subscribe. I'm really
excited about this because my buddy Daniel Vasquez is going
to be joining me on Lines and Times. We're looking
forward to this venture. It's going to be really good.
Daniel's backstory we're going to learn a little bit about
that today. But he decided to leave West Palm Beach,
(00:21):
Florida fishing Lake o Kochobe whenever he wanted to broaden
his horizons and try to make it as a professional
bass fisherman. Last year he ran as the bass master
on the co Angler side, finished with top tens.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Pretty incredible, yeahs.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
So it's actually a pretty crazy story.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
So, like you said, last year, I fished bass master
and finished luckily in the top ten for the co Anglers.
And I told myself going into last year that if
I had made the top ten as co Anglers, then
I try to make a decision to you know, pursue
professional fishing.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
But I never thought it would take me to Alabama.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
So we were here in Alabama for the Logan Martin
event and it was a stellar event for me, but
my wife and I just fell in love with the
area and we're like, you know what, this is where
we have to be. And so after I finished last year,
we started the house hunt and we found a home
packed up all our stuff.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I sold my business and here we are in Alabama.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
That has kicked off your pursuit of becoming a professional
tournament angler. Yes, a lot of people have brought up
professional tournament anglers. Can you explain to me what you
think is a professional tournament angler?
Speaker 4 (01:34):
So a professional tournament angler, in my opinion, can be
a co angler or professional angler who represents the sport
of bass fishing the right way.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I'm in a professional.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
Manner who does tournaments, you know, tries to maintain sponsorships
and you know, tries to branch out and teach more
people about the sport of bass fishing. In my opinion,
it's not just based off the guy in the front
of the boat.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Anybody can be a professional fisherman.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Obviously, you know, you need to have a little bit
of notoriety and have some tournament skills behind you to
be able to, you know, push that envelope.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
I've been watching you since you moved to Alabama and
we fished together, and you know, we do some tournaments
together and things like that. I don't really know much
about your background, so take me through it. When you're
a kid, where were you born, where were you raised?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
What got you into fishing?
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Yeah, so I was born in Los Angeles. My mom
and dad separated when I was just a young kid,
so I went from Los Angeles to New Hampshire a
lot when I was a young kid.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
And because your dad stayed in LA Yeah, that's exactly right. Hampshire.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah, so you were you were having to see your
mom jumping on a plane. Did you have to ride
on the plane by yourself?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
So my sister and I would go for a while,
but then once I was eighteen, I was making the
trip by myself. After I was eighteen, you know, custody
stops and all that when you're a young kid.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Well, you were going to college then days, right.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
So but it was really cool because I could be
in New Hampshire fishing over there, and then during the
summers I'd go to California and hang out with my
dad and fish all those lakes over there.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
So it was just awesome.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
How different was the fishing in New Hampshire compared to
night in LA. And then how different is the fishing
in New Hampshire, California, Florida and Alabama.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Everything is night and day. Everything is night and day.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
So not only just a species of bass that you're targeting,
but the size, especially the size.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
When you go to California.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
It's really crazy how when you go into certain places
up there, it's super finesse fishing, like six pound tests,
eight pound test line, and then you can go to
the delta and you're flipping, you know, sixty five pound
test braid. So the fisheries in California line up really
really well for people that you know, end up moving
to Florida or something like that. But the California fisheries
(03:48):
are very hard. All those West coast fisheries are difficult
to fish. And I'm really surprised actually that it's like that.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Skeeet Reese was a California guy, right, Yes, yeah, was
Aaron Martin's a California guy.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
You move to Alabama.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Yeah, So it's actually this is a crazy story.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
So the first basque club I ever entered was in
Castay at California, and I think I was maybe fourteen
years old, and Aaron Martin's was from Castay at California
when he was coming out with the Roboworms and all that,
and he spoke at our bass club and I'll never
forget it.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
That was the first time. I think.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
I think this is before he was even on the
Elite series or anything. He was just a regular regular guy.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
When you're living in California as a kid, were you
involved in fishing then or were your hobbies completely different.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
I've been involved in fishing since I was eight years old.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
So how'd you get on the water for the first time.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
The first time was with my stepfather.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
He took us bluegill fishing, and I just I remember
watching him catch bluegill after bluegun. I was like, I
want to do that really, Yeah, it was so crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
So most of the time of bluegill fishing, like you're
casting a rod maybe three feet Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
No, he was throwing this little spinner. I remember vividly.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
We were on we were in this orange canoe and
he stowing this little tiny like in spin, like this
little inline spinner. Yeah, and just wearing the blue gill
like every cast And I remember seeing them under the
boat and being like I'm gonna go out tomorrow and
do this by myself. So he let me go out
the next day canoe fishing all by myself, and so
he used.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
To do it. Do you actually got Youah, actually gotten.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
A canoe and paddled out at like eight or nine
years old, Jacky or whatever. Yeah, so that's where it
all started.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
So you wore out the blue gill and then you
came back and you were immediately like, hey, I want
to start targeting bass or was it just as you
got older you started to get a little more impacted
by wanting to catch bigger fish have a better fight.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
So naturally, you know, us fisherman, you know, they say
the bluegills where we start, and then you know, circumstantially
you end up hooking a bass. You know, while you're
doing that, you're targeting fishing. You know, because I was
just a little kid, I was grabbing lures whatever I
thought would work and throw them, and you know, I
just circumstantially caught a bass one day. And when that happened,
I was like, oh my god, I gotta do this again.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
People don't but people don't realize it because you caught
a bass on super ultra light gear, and you know,
the gear at the time probably wasn't the greatest thing ever,
right Shakespeare. Yeah, the two piecee completely crossed. But you
catch this bass on probably six pound test at the max,
(06:24):
and you watched this thing take off, but you want
to land it. How long do you think it took
you to land that fish?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Man, dude, it's so hard to remember the memory that hard.
But it probably only a couple of seconds. Oh really,
it probably wasn't even a big one. You know, I
think it was a small mouth because we were staying
on Long Pond in Maine when I think I remember
I really started catching my first couple of bass.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
So you don't know this about me, but as a kid,
I didn't do any fishing, and I grew up on
a phenomenal large mouth bass fishery.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
It's called Smith Mountain Lake.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
It's in the southwestern corner of Virginia and MLF is
going there this year for heavy hitters. And you know
when they do that event, that's big fish, like that's
all they care about. They have really done such a
good job maintaining that fishery and get it going for
a long time. When I was a kid. It was
really well known for stripers, and I wanted to fish,
(07:23):
but I didn't know anybody that knew how.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
We had this little tackle shop.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
And this memory came up when you were talking about
going out and buying tackle, because I remember this and
I still have these things in my boat.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
I went and.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Bought a storm Wigglewart crank bait, and I remember going
into the store. I had like five dollars from allowance,
and I looked at the guy and I said, what
are they biting? And he pulls out this fire tiger
painted storm wiggle Wart and he goes, they are lighting
this thing up, and he handed it to me, and
I was like, I'll buy it. So I gave him
(07:56):
my five bucks and I went out. I didn't even
know how to tie a proper not nothing. I didn't
catch a fish all day, and I was sitting there
trying to work this thing back on, like one of
those crappy Shakespeare rods and all that kind of stuff.
And eventually I gave it up. I literally took that rod.
I never even cut the bait off of it. I
just put in the corner of our basement because I
(08:18):
got frustrated.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Didn't know how to.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Fish, didn't know anybody knew, and I was tired of it.
I went back to my house five years ago after
fishing for the very first time with friends of mine
who actually showed me how to fish, and I caught
an amazing striper. I was like, dude, this thing is huge.
But I went down into my basement and I saw
that rod and I saw that crank bait, and I
was like, you know, I'm cutting that thing off because
(08:42):
that was the first thing that linked me to it.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I have it in my boat. I'll never throw it nice.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
That's cool. That's a good memory.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Those like those things with fishing.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
When you bring those memories up from being a kid,
they impact you so much.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
They really do. They really do.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
It's actually kind of entertaining how you don't remember certain things,
but when it comes to the things that you really love,
you just remember everything.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
You remember the fine details.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
If you asked me when I was sixteen years old,
like do you remember the fishing memory and all that kind,
I couldn't tell you, Like I wouldn't have brought that up.
It took somebody bringing me out who knew what they
were doing, to show me the ropes let me land
a fish. And then all of a sudden, I was like,
you know what, I remember when I was a kid.
I remember going to that tackle shop. I remember when
(09:27):
they had cash on delivery, so you would watch something
on TV and infomercial and then you could call and
they would send you the product and then you'd have
to pay at the post office or order to get it.
I got these things called flying lures. I never you're sweet, dude,
but if you think about it now, like Berkeley came
out with what the kreje. Yeah, so it's a jerk
(09:50):
bait that goes backwards, it falls back to the fish.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
That's basically the flying little it is.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
It's it's essentially the same thing.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
So I got these things and same exact thing. Dude,
you've seen the tackle shop in my garage. Those things
are in my work bench, pristine, never been touched, never been.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Probably worth a ton of money.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Probably not.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
There's probably one guy that's.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Like, I need my flag lures.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
I feel like everything we got told as kids isn't
even remotely true. Like they were like, hey, collect all
those action figures, leave them in the box because they're
going to pay for Carla.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I've gone to eBay.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
I didn't even get to play with this when I
was a kid, and now I haven't.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
All right, So take me through New Hampshire.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
So your stepfather is the one that really got you
into fishing, and you would obviously go stay with your
stepdad and your mom in New Hampshire. Now you're fishing
for small mouth. You're targeting cold water species. How different
is that because we don't get to see a lot
of that in Alabama.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
There are some on the Tennessee River.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Uh So the thing that a lot of people don't
realize is those fisheries up there are world class. Not
just talking about Yeah, that's exactly right. So and I'm
not just talking about Lake Champlain and Lake Winnipesake, the
big lakes up there. I'm talking about, like you know,
the small little private lakes, the smaller little impoundments. Those
lakes are absolutely chalk full of three to five pound fish.
(11:16):
And you know, being able to go up there and
just set the hook on multiple fish and learn where
fish should be, and learn how to get them out
of cover, and learn how to fish different lures.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
In that cover. That was essential.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
So New Hampshire actually was a huge integral part in
me learning just how to catch bass, just like trash.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Fishing, you know.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
Uh so that was a lot of fun because you could,
you could do everything, and a lot of people, in
my opinion, should actually, you know, make a trip to
Maine once in a while, or make a trip to
New Hampshire or New York. The problem with that is
the I don't think the venues are big enough. Got it,
So the lakes aren't big enough. But if the lakes
(11:58):
were big enough, I believe you they used to have
big Federation tournaments on Lake Winnipesake. If if I'm I mean,
I think I'm right.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
You Thinklly won one time?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (12:08):
I think Ikenelly actually had done well on the Federation
and qualified for the Classic through Winnipesaka.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
I'm gonna blow your mind.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Lake Winnipesake is in a movie called What About Bob
with Bill Murray and Richard Dry.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
You never seen ever seen it?
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Okay, anybody listening that has probably seen it, will reach
out to us on social mister Spencer Graves because I
know they've seen him.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
But I'm gonna give you a little trivia.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Bill Murray obviously hilarious, right he Skitzo and Richard Dreyfus
is his therapist. Richard Dreyfus says, Hey, I'm going on
a family vacation. I won't be around if you need me,
but read my book Baby Steps, and that should help
you through well. Bill Murray tries to track him down
on vacation. He finds out that he's vacationing on Lake
(12:51):
Winnipesake in New Hampshire. The funny part of that movie
is Lake Winnipesake is actually Smith Mountain, Lake, Virginia, because
the foliage change by the time they wanted to shoot
the film and they wanted summer, but it already had
the auburn leaves because it was turning into fall, so
they had to move locations. So I grew up on
Smith Mount Lake. But it's most well known when you
(13:14):
see the clips of the movie for Lake Winnipeseacicah, that's
funny wild. So Lake Winnipsaki would say is probably the
biggest one.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Wouldn't it be cool? Though?
Speaker 1 (13:22):
If you had bass Master where they said, hey, our
last tournament of the year, it's going to be a
secret lake. Nobody knows anything about it. Here's going to
be the time when.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
We go let's say late August they.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Make the announce that it's Lake Winnipesake in New Hampshire
and everybody has to be there in three weeks to
fish the tournament.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Do you think they could do that? I think that'd
be interesting for fishing.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
It'd be interesting. I don't ever see.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Maybe take maybe take the top fifty and make it
something a little different.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
That would be really cool. I just I would never
foresee bass Master doing that. Maybe a different organization.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
In PFL maybe, yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Maybe somewhere.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
I mean, you know, numbers are everything, right, So in
New Hampshire, I just don't foresee the numbers for a
bigger organization. Why just because the amount of interest in
bass fishing. You know, those lakes up there, like you
said earlierre coldwater lakes, you know, and even though there
are large mouth and smallmouth there, they're still considered trash
fish in New Hampshire and Maine, you know, that's still
(14:24):
a trout fishery for the most part in those places.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
That's what those states are.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Man, it's really just because of the species, that's all that.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
That's exactly right. That's exactly right. So and that's another
thing that everybody needs to realize is that. You know,
in California they stock rainbow trout and all these big
bass lakes, and the bass just sit there and Gorgeum.
They do the same exact thing in New Hampshire and Maine.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Maybe maybe I don't understand this bass being the fish
that it is.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Largemouth is the number one targeted freshwater species in the country,
correct it really? I mean technically the world. Just because
there's so many that are trying to get up, it
provides them most amount of money in the fishing industry.
Why wouldn't more places like these cold water reservoirs want
to do that?
Speaker 4 (15:06):
Over trout, it comes to do with native fisheries. So
all native fisheries should be protected. If there's a trout
fishery that's been predominantly trout fisheries since the history of
the lake, it needs to be managed that way. And
you know that's my fishery background coming out.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Oh yes, tell me about your fishery background.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
So I went to Unity College, graduated there, have been
working in fisheries my entire life. So I understand the
importance of having native fisheries. And a lot of these
places believe it or not, even though you may believe,
and some numbers may show that bass fishing does contribute
a large amount to the revenue and the economy in
some of these states, and some of the states like
(15:45):
Maine and you know, New Hampshire and you know some
of these you know Midwestern states like Utah. You know,
trout fishing is still a very big thing, and those
fisheries are managed one hundred percent for that, and uh
not everything is about bass fishing when it comes to fisheries.
Having a healthy fishery is the ultimate goal.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
The money side. Take that out right.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
If we're talking about recreation, it's cheaper for people to.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Get into bass fishing than it is.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Fishing, absolutely, and that is the main deal is because
you can't you know, if you're from Alabama, you can't
find even a troutthole. Really, if you do, maybe it's
going to be stocked. You know, maybe if you get there,
there's going to be a whole bunch of other people there.
But you have to buy specialty stuff, you know, just
like bass fishing. But the chances are you're going to
(16:34):
have to travel to go catch that fish.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Once you started fishing as a kid.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Because I want to get back to your journey in fishing,
and we'll obviously talk more as the podcast goes on,
and you're being a part of it, of your fishery background,
because it is it's so vital. You and I were
hanging out, and I remember you were telling me about
an upcoming tournament that you were going to, and I
think you were talking to yourself, but I know that
I was around, So it was really interesting to see
(16:59):
how you process. But you were like, yeah, it's a
highland reservoir, so I no, I'm gonna have to do this.
The fisher primarily going to be here and I'm just
taking all this in. And I remember I said to
you at one point, like, how do you know that?
How do you break down a highland reservoir? How do
you break down I don't even know. The other types
of reservoirs.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
Are experience, just being on the water. That's nothing equates
to more success as a fisherman than just being on
the water. So when you wishing as many.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Places, when you were doing these bass club tournaments in
Californian and Castaic and all that kind of stuff, you
were a teenager.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
Yeah, I wasn't even a teenager, not even a teenager.
I think I maybe was twelve when I first started my.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
First You start fishing these tournaments, you're fishing with like
your just local dad or just guys there.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Yeah, just local guys.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
I uh.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
You know, obviously my dad would go to the meetings
with me because I was just a little kid.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
Sure probably yeah, you know, they're you know, having a
fun time at their bass club meetings. You know, it
was their freaking nineties.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Exactly, So, uh, kid, do you want to beer or what?
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Yeah, so that I.
Speaker 4 (18:03):
Would just get paired with a random guy, you know,
just the same exact deal as it always is.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
How important was that in the development of you as
a fisherman.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
It's to anybody that can do it. Being a co
angler is the most important thing. Fishing with as many
people on as many lakes as you can. That's if
you can do that, just and just you know, outreach
to people, you know, social network to people, and that
will make you a better fisherman tenfold.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Does that come into your mind when you're doing these tournaments,
Because I've watched you on bodies of water. You're a
hell of a fisherman. You can be in the front
of the boat any day of the week and you'll
catch fish. But I wonder if the mentality that you
have as a co angler is vastly different than being
at the front of the boat.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Yes, so when I'm a I hate to say it,
be a co angler. It's not as stressful as being
a boater. You know, obviously we all know that the
boaters are taking to your spots and all you got
to do is fish. You know, there's so much that
goes through a boater's mind. You know, am I supposed
to be here at this time? Am I supposed to
be there at that time? The co anger just gets
to reap those benefits or not. And I have luckily
(19:05):
been paired with a bunch of really good fishermen that
have not only taught me a lot, but have done
well in the standings and their careers as well.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
So what would you say is the etiquette of being
a co because I would consider you at this stage
in your career, I would consider you as a professional
co angler.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Uh, yeah, I could say that.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
But there's like a difference, right, Like you see this,
you know the guys that are on the back of
the boat, and you're like, they might catch three fish,
but it's going to be for three pounds, four pounds,
whatever you target, and you do things differently on the
back of the boat. And I think there's really in
most major tournaments, say a two hundred boat field, I
feel like there's only about ten or twelve of those guys.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
So it's about keeping an open mind.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
And you still, even though you're not the boater, you
have to still try to understand what the fish are doing.
Just because you're with your voter who's putting you on fish,
you still it's essential that you understand what the fish
are still doing seasonally, weather wise, bait, why lower wise,
line wise, everything. You really have to pay attention to
(20:05):
the little intricacies even more than the boater does to
be a successful colling.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Do you think that's because you're trying to you're not
fishing against the boater.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
No, we're fishing completely two different tournaments.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
But you're also looking at it as I know there's
another line in the water and they might be targeting something.
But if they don't hit this one thing that I
think they're at, I'm gonna take an opportunity and pick
that off.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
And those those opportunities you get as a co angler
are very limited. So I've learned that you have to
take advantage of every opportunity that's given in front of you,
because you may only get as a co angler ten
opportunities in a day to throw to a good piece
of cover that you can actually have a chance at
catching a fish, or just not even cover, just somewhere
(20:50):
where there may be fish. You may only have that
many opportunities, maybe not even that man.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Plus you might get one of those boaters that does
try to back boat you.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
You know, everything out in front.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Of you, and that happens.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
But at the same time, that can only happen so
much during the day, so you will always have your opportunities.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
And that's why it's.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
Really disappointing to me to see the advent of Coengler's
just giving up, because no matter what, at the end
of the day, there you're gonna have your opportunities. It's
just how you utilize your opportunity.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
And there's been so many people that have talked about like, oh,
I don't want to be stuck behind a scoper and
all that kind of stuff. I'm telling you, there are chances,
especially on a cloudy day, if you're sitting behind them.
Always scope buddy, you got a spot where you can throw.
If they're targeting that brush pile on a sunny day,
you know, those fish are going to sink into whatever
available cover that they have. But in my experience, where
(21:43):
there's a brush pile, there's a rock pile, or there's
a hard bottom, and you might be able to pick
off one or two that are just kind of straining
out to look for a little bait that's exactly.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Right, spencer, Yeah and so.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
But a lot of guys they get it in their
head and they just instantly spin out. You know, if
they get behind some.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Doesn't that speak to the caliber of the type of
fish that's right?
Speaker 4 (22:01):
And those are the guys, you know, those are the
guys that struggle on hard days. Not every day is
going to be the best fishing day of your life, right,
The best fishing days of your life are when you
win a tournament. Believe it or not, you have to
have fish the best three days of your life.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
And that is what I try to do every single
time I go. I try to keep a level.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Heady, stay positive, just keep casting and never let any little,
any little negative emotion ever try to take over my head.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
And if it does.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
It's usually towards the end of the day, you know,
when I'm pretty much on my last cast and I'm
trying to figure out whether or not I'm even.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
About the fact too that, like you know, an angler
or pro, a guy who's at the front of the
boat in a three day tournament, he's got his spots.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
You know, you assume that.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
He's gone out in practice, he's found fish, he's dialed
it in, he's cut his rods from twenty on the
deck down to four on the deck. He knows what
he wants to do. All he has to do is
go out to the spots and catch him. As a
co angler, you get paired with that guy, you catch
your fish, you're in the lead, you're in the top ten.
The next day you get paired with somebody else they
might not be doing nearly as well.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
It's a crapshoot.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
That's why I think it's hard for a co angler,
But it's so rewarding when you have a good tournament
because you've had to battle and get through all these
obstacles that the pro doesn't have.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Yes, So I don't know if most of you guys
remember this, but versatility is key and versatility has created
some of the best co anglers that turned out to
be professional fishermen. So backy, yeah, back in the day,
all these guys, every elite that you saw, they were
co anglers and they'd be on the back I mean
they they most of them have relationships because of that.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
It wasn't as split up where it was like half
of the day the other half you took.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
The boat exactly.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
So it's just the advent of things just changing in
the industry have made it a little bit more volatile
in the co angler world for.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Them to even want to compete.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Yeah, and you know, I hate to see it because
I want to be able to continue fishing as a
co angler.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
But eventually I will be making the.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Move to where do you feel like you are now?
Speaker 4 (24:00):
I'm about a year away. I don't I know, I
could probably do it right now. It's more based on
being realistic. I know right now with my move to Alabama,
my new transition into moving into the state, the most
realistic thing for me is to do is still to
fish as a coinler and just try to learn these lakes.
Why though, because I've for the most part, I have
(24:22):
not fish for spotted bass. As much as I fish
for smallmouth and largemouth bass, I'm still trying to learn livescope.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
I'm still trying to learn.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
Southern fishing beyond Florida, because Florida is not Southern fishing.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
It's it's completely Flaish, It's Florida fishing. And that's what
I need to do.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
If you see some of the best fishermen in the
world there from Alabama, and I knew that, and that's
where I moved here.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
But I can't.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
It would be naive of me to think that I
could just immediately jump into a bfl and even cash
as a boater.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Yeah, if I could.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
Fish every day, go out and do my homework, you
know what I mean. But at the same time, I'm
not going to be stepping on people's toes. It all
comes down to boat numbers, all that stuff. So I
need to learn the lakes. Once I'm able to generate
that under my belt for the next year, you know,
relaxing my new home with my wife, sure, then I'll
be looking in the next year going full boar.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
People don't know this about Alabama that aren't here. Some
do in like the neighboring states, Florida, Georgia places like that,
but they have an incredible I think it's as professional
as it gets without it being Bass Master or MLF.
And that's the Alabama bas trop Absolutely. I called Kay
Donaldson the other day because I started fishing the Northern Division,
(25:38):
and I called her the other day because our first
tournament was on Smith Lake, which is a huge spoted
bass deep water reservoir, clear as clear gets, and I
just called her to just say, hey, I don't know
if anybody's told you this, but you have by far
executed and run the best local tournament trail that feels professional.
(26:01):
I mean, dude, you pull up to the ramp, you
know your boat number. They had a police officer who
asked what your number was. He radios it to the
person who's at the slips and they tell you what
ramp you're going to go on.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
You're going to go on number two.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
It's awesome.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
They got people backing you down. Then when you get
the boat in the water, you drive the truck and
they show you where to park. And then when you park,
if it's far away, they have a golf car pick
you up and bring you back. They've got guys that
are making barbecue and they're giving it out for free.
They're asking for donations phenomenal food.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Then you go to.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Way In and everything feels like a bass Master event.
You just don't have all the cameras, you don't have
all the glitz and all the glamor of being an elite,
but you can win fifteen grand. So I just wanted
to share with her that I think that it is
after fishing it for the first time. It's a tournament
trail I don't think I want to get out of.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
And they have live. Yes, it's live, which is huge.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
They're really doing a better job with the live side
because they're utilizing social media as they can because they
want to get more eyes on it. But the whole thing,
top to bottom, it just it runs perfectly. If you
were ever thinking about trying to get into the professional
ranks of fishing, going through the Alabama Bass Trail kind
(27:16):
of feels like the minor leagues to get there.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
They're all stuts. Everybody that's in that is an Alabama hammer.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
We were going over weights and everybody was like, man,
I think it's going to take about fifteen pounds to win.
I said, I bet it's gonna take close to twenty
or twenty one, and it was nineteen some and it's
just because of the caliber how good these guys are,
and the winning team I think they had four largemouth
in one giant spot, so they weren't even going for
the prime fish that everybody likes to target on that lake.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
They were like, put.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Me in the backwaters, get me in three foot of water,
make it dirty, and that's what I'm gonna try to catch.
That's awesome, it was incredible. All Right, we're gonna get
to learn Daniel little more. He's gonna be on the podcast.
We're also going to bring some of our friends from
the professional ranks. You know, Daniel spent a year doing
the co Angler sign with bass Master, fishing the top
ten fish with some really good dudes. These are guys
(28:06):
that are trying to go through the opens to get
the invitation to make it to the elites, and then
that's where the fun really begins. You know, I'm fortunate
where in Alabama, and now you'll know this too, ninety
percent of professional fishermen live within two hours of Birmingham,
so you're surrounded by a lot of good fishermen. We
were just talking about a guy the other day who
told you about a bait, and he's like, most guys
(28:27):
are scared to throw it, but that's a good one.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
You google his name, and all of a sudden you
find out like, damn, dude, this guy is somebody.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
He's a stud. Like, yeah, he's a study.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Not everybody knows his name, but in the fishing world
you mentioned, all of a sudden people are like, yeah,
we know who that guy is.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
I try to tell us. A couple of my friends
that are like, dude, why would you move Why would
you take all your life from self floor and then
just move to Alabama. I was like, because it's the
same thing as if you're an actor and you want
to become actor, you move to Hollywood. If you want
to be a professional bass fisherman, you moved to Alabama.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Is this a passion project for you?
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Passion project? One hundred percent?
Speaker 1 (29:00):
That baby sold your company, took your money, said to
your beautiful wife, We're gonna go to Alabama. She saw
a couple of the mountains here and she.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Was like, I'm in love, dude. Amazing.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Daniel Vasquez, He's gonna be onlines and times going forward,
which is gonna be awesome. And we'll give you guys
as much about not only fishing, we'll talk about hunting too,
because the hunting season is right around the corner. We
got birds that we got to chase, those thunder chickens
as we like to call them, the turkeys,
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